addictions

Mohanji & the majestic Alps (and one of the beautiful Bavarian mountain lakes)

Dear Friends

Please find below the transcription of the two very intense Q&A sessions we had here in Munich with Mohanji over the past couple of days. Almost exactly one year after he conducted the first ever BTW session in Germany.

To top the great surprise of his short notice visit to Germany: he came during this central and important time of the Christian liturgical year: Good Friday (crucifixion of Jesus) until Easter Sunday (resurrection).

During the two sessions, Mohanji spoke with tremendous clarity and power. All interwoven with wit and love, naturally. The BTW meditations and Shaktipat were very intense and transforming. After the first evening Mohanji said: “I gave all today, if the same people come tomorrow, what should I give them?” Of course I knew what he meant, that there is only so much a meditator can absorb and take on board. At the same time I felt though, that the people could possibly be quite capable of churning fast. And also the second evening was indeed wonderful. With even more openness from the meditators. I had the impression that after the previous evening their system was already vibrating higher. Just remembering the group’s humming breath during Pranayama before we started the meditation the second evening: it was one single sound – a beautifully strong, dense, highly vibrant and elevating unity. The second evening began with the Q&A session, followed by the meditation. After the meeting with Mohanji was over, people continued talking to him in the hallway and then even in the street, until ultimately the group dissolved and everybody went their way.

Please take the time to read the following text until the end. What you will find in these lines below is truly essential and of immense value. Mohanji gives clarity on topics such as:

First comments and feedback:
• Dear Marina, Thank you, thank you so much, it was so wonderful, I am infinitely grateful to the universe to have met Mohanji and you in my life. I am lucky . (…) I cannot find the words to tell you thank you for having organised this meeting and having made it happen. It was a great moment for me full of emotions and gratitude. Have a very nice Easter Monday.
• Hi Marina, Thanks so very much for all the help and guidance extended for my daughter for attending BTW. Finally she did attend and met Mohanji as well… all thanks to you. She just called me from Munich and told me all about BTW. She is so happy to experience every thing with Mohanji and so impressed with every thing. Her faith in him has increased all the more and his view point. She is so Happy to meet him and also to attend this special BTW with Para Brahma and of course you as well. Thanks once again for making her attend this BTW possible. LOVE, LIGHT & HAPPINESS in Abundance.

Sending love and light. May you benefit from this blog post.

And I have to add: the simplicity of our path and Mohanji’s distinct approachability easily belie the deep transformational power, the rich tradition behind it and the individual tenacity required. May people feel and see the truth, with the whole of their being.

Satsang with Mohanji in Munich – intense & intimate like a private audience – with guests from Berlin, Luxembourg and even Delhi

Q&A with Mohanji, Good Friday 22 April (after meditation):

Q: Can you explain the background music – the sound of water and the reoccurring wave-like music?

M: Interesting question. In three years nobody has ever asked that question. Nobody thought about this. It is an old friend’s composition. Our constitution is always peaceful. The mind is like a wave – and the music is exactly like that. The music is teasing in that way. But it is not contradictory, it is complementary to the programme.

Q: Is there an energy difference whether I sit on the floor or on a chair during the meditation?

M: In our meditation the most important thing is that you should be comfortable and able to sit without moving for an hour. This is a cleansing meditation. When things are moving out of your system the mind tries to manipulate the body in a way that you want to move, shift, or do something.

Your body, inside, is like a house that is dirty. I have found this in almost everybody, becausewe are not only carrying the baggage of our life, but also that of our family tradition and that of our country. This is also the reason why we sometimes do not understand why certain things are happening to us. If you look at your own past, it is easy to understand. But what about your environment and the conditionings around you? An example: you read today’s newspaper, some information caught your emotion and you got attached to it. This experience sticks as memory to you. Similar to a computer, sometimes if there is too much data, the computer crashes. Like that, we also sometimes go through those crashes.

I just had several big group sessions in Serbia and I have seen again how most people try to analyze their experiences. Once we stop analysing, we are free. To analyse, we use our intellect and we continue churning the experiences. When we drop this and just accept the experience we are liberated.

What we are here for is liberation, reducing the baggage. We are all carrying excess baggage, this is why we cannot enjoy every situation, we are not in the present.

Q: How do we get rid of the baggage?

M: I will tell you. First, you have to start today. You cannot move back into your past. Today you can choose to be in the present, consciously and be with every thought. Let the mind be present with your thoughts. How do we do that? Imagine you have – let’s say – four or five children and some are very naughty. And you are just like a loving mother watching them play. Let them play. Our thoughts are like our children.Just watch them play, just observe, without doing anything. No scolding. No criticising, no judging, no censoring. Then you will be fine with your thought process. When you do that for one hour every day, play with your children, then you will be in the present with your thoughts.

You don’t know what I am going to say next, right? Likewise you do not know what you are going to think next. It is only after the thought is born, that you understand it. You have better control over your words. Before you talk or while you talk you can be with your words. Likewise with action: you have control over your actions. So on three levels of creation you can work on – thought, word and action. And on those three levels you are accumulating something. Again it’s like with your computer and the internet: thinking is like surfing the internet, one thing leads to another, one site leads to another and so on. Next is words, here you are actually doing something, you’re talking. But when your mind is present with every word, then there is no guilt about the past or anxiety for the future, you’re in control of the words. Then there is action. We have many thoughts, lesser words, and still lesser actions!

Now, how do you detach from all that? If there are no emotions with any thoughts, words or actions, you are on the path of liberation, because emotions are the glue that attach every word, every thought and every action to your system.

When the mind is with the past it is very difficult not to have any emotions. For example you saw a beautiful car and you wanted to buy it. You went home, checked your bank balance and found out the money you have is just not enough to buy it. But the mind is not happy until you buy that car. Then, after you bought the car, your mind actually does not care anymore. Then the mind wants a better car. But until you bought that car, that’s the most important thing. That’s how our mind operates, it can never be satisfied.

What you can do is, watch the mind like a mother and watch how it operates. Have you seen naughty children and how they play? You just stand there, watch them and slowly they will start becoming conscious of you watching them. No need to tell them anything. When you are just looking, they will come and start giving you excuses. They will stop by themselves, we don’t have to tell them anything. Watching and observing is much more powerful than talking. This is one way of detachment. The best way of detachment is meditation, meditating on your own thoughts and mind.

Now imagine a small window and thousands of people want to go through that window to the other side. Everybody is pushing and fighting as only two or three people at a time fit through that window. Our thoughts are like that. Now, when you start observing this like a policeman, they will stop fighting and stand in line. Likewise when you start observing your thoughts, the intensity of your thought movements will reduce. Slowly gaps will open up between the thoughts. And over a period of time the gaps between the thoughts will increase. What will be in this gap? Silence. Nothing else but silence. When you do this continuously, you will not fear silence anymore. You will fall in love with silence. The pressure of thoughts has gone and the space is filled with silence. So where is the baggage? There is emptiness. A beautiful feeling. Bliss!!! You don’t have to do anything else.

What are we doing every day? Look at the world out there. People are trying to fill their inner space with activities. They are afraid of any vacuum. They go from one pub to another or do one action after the other, in order not to feel the vacuum.

One person asked me the other day: don’t you get bored when you are alone? I answered that I get real when I’m alone. I am not afraid of being alone. It is not a depressive loneliness. It is self-sufficiency, which means you are content and complete within yourself.

When the senses are driving, you will always have to do something, otherwise the result is depression. Then, self-worth will be so low. When senses are driving you, you continuously have to do something and you will not understand the value of silence. Silence is much more valuable than anything else in this life. The only conquest which is worthwhile, in this lifetime, is the conquest of your own mind.

Enjoy the silence

Q: How can you detach from the mind?

M: This is what we just practiced during the meditation – we shift our awareness to the spine. Usually we are driven by our senses, which are oriented towards the front in just 120 degrees. When we shift our consciousness to our spine, by breathing through our spine, we start operating in 360 degrees, and this way the push of the senses is getting less. We won’t be pressured for action anymore. No “pressure for pleasure” anymore!

Actually the intellectual side of our mind is a much better friend for us, but whenever we become angry or emotional, the mind immediately puts the intellect into a locker. So that emotions are in total control. When the emotional wave is over, then our mind unlocks the intellect, and it can come out again. And then we regret, because we made a fight and we are sorry. So when you shift to your spine, when your consciousness is in your spine, then intellect will be in charge. And then you will have space between your thoughts, words and action. You will not be pressured for something. And when you are not pressured for anything, the success rate will be very high. Whenever we operate emotionally, success and failure rates will always fluctuate, like a swing – sometimes success, sometimes failure, most times worry. So this is one way of reducing the baggage.

If you practice the Power of Purity meditation, most of your stored emotions will come up. If you operate more and more from your spine, pressure will be less, anxiety is getting less and intellect is in control. Accumulation will be less.

We have various ways to reduce our baggage. Social service is very good. There is the saying “Hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray”. “If you can buy a poor man a tea, it will liberate you more than going to church or a temple. If you help someone you will have a much more expanded heart. I always recommend that. Do something beautiful. Not just with money and don’t think that you need much money to do social service. For example you can teach a child something or help someone to get a job. Some activity which is unselfish, that will liberate you.

Q: How do you control your mind – anger and restlessness?

M: You cannot tackle the mind directly. You have to watch it. That’s the only way.

What makes the mind strong? Your participationin the thought process!

If you get emotionally involved you will have agony. But when you are rooted in the spine you will automatically observe your mind. Your conscious mind that generally drives us crazy is a product of this life. Subconscious mind which has the full data is a product of many lifetimes. So, over all the lifetimes you had the same agonies, same emotions and frustrations. Then you took this body, a fresh body, with a fresh mind, which doesn’t know the past. Only your soul knows your past.

Where is anger coming from? Mostly from expectations!

We say we know something, but what do we know? We say we know many people, but we don’t know anybody. A husband does not know his wife fully. Children don’t know their parents and so on.

We are all living in a blinded world. And we do expect. He should behave in certain ways; she should behave in a certain way etc, because we like to put people into frames. We have certain ideas about people, but will they always behave like that? The point is to watch your thoughts. Where is the hook of your anger? It has to be from the past. From the past and the related expectation. And usually related to relationships. Relationships cost us a lot of problems in life; usually, because, we have expectations. But at the same time, if a relationship is based on a larger purpose – sometimes people come together to elevate each other to higher dimensions – then there won’t be conflicts. Then it will be a beautiful relationship. On that level nobody will bind the other person.

Most of our relationships are binding and conditional.If you behave in a certain way I love you and if you won’t, I don’t know you. This is how most relationships work these days. Worse is a relationship out of convenience. To be with someone because you are bored or have nothing else to do – and you form a relationship just to fill the vacuum. And it will crack just like that, because of varied expectations.

If this is the case, rather than forming a relationship of convenience, it is better to be alone and concentrate on your personal evolution. Otherwise, it only amounts to nuisance value and further agony. I always say, please use this life to understand life. And stay liberated. Liberation is state of mind – when the mind is not controlling the body and when the senses are not controlling the mind. If intellect runs our system we are safe. And remember we can only control our actions, not the results.

Q: What is happening in 2012?

M: The earth is already shifting. Also in Serbia I was asked about the recent tsunami in Japan. I was asked what I felt when the earthquake happened. I said from a distance it was just like a hick-up. From a cosmic perspective this is not a tragedy. But what is happening to Japan is serious. The earthquake hit right in the middle or stem of Japan – which is a coral formation – and the country tilted and shifted to the east.

Another aspect that is quite interesting is that Japan is the only country that is still doing whale hunting. They say they do it for scientific reasons. Last year, according to some statistics I saw, they killed about 550 pregnant whales for “scientific” research. Now, I read in a daily newspaper, that three big whaling ships were thrown onto the shore by the tsunami and a big whaling factory was completely destroyed in Ayukawa. Also, a temple dedicated to the souls of killed whales was completely destroyed. The dead whales don’t care about the temple!!!

When creation happened, the natural energy was pure – wind, water, sun –, was sufficient and did not cause pollution. And the oil that was still under the earth worked like the shock-absorbers in our cars. This was creating a balance between the continents on the whole earth. This has all gone. Over time we took all the oil from the shock-absorbers and replaced it with water. Will that work?

Whales and dolphins are very special creatures. They were the only creatures that were still energizing the earth. Their songs have soothed and nourished the earth.

The shift is also about the process of rebuilding. If you have a house you cannot repair anymore, you have to destroy it and rebuild it from scratch.

Let’s not worry about it. If you want to use the time to elevate yourself then the best you can do is shift to your spine. When a baby forms in the womb of a mother, the first part created is the spine. Every existence is based on the spine. And the spine is the stairway to heaven.

(Q&A continued but the voice recorder was full at this point).

Dolphins and whales produce healing sound frequencies

Q&A with Mohanji, Saturday 23 April (before meditation):

Q: How can I interpret the various colors that I see during the meditation?

M: There are different types of people. Some are vision-oriented. They talk about how something looks. Some are sound-oriented and they say how nice something sounds. And some are feeling-oriented. Depending on your orientation you may see, hear or feel vibrations. And in this way our meditation gives a different effect to different people. Of course you can also shift from see- to feel orientation as you progress spiritually. Colors signify the movements of energy and energy shifts. Energy is never constant.

Throughout your life your aura and your chakras will keep changing depending on situations. It doesn’t mean that chakras disappear and come back, but that the intensity of the energy in the chakras changes. If you experience a situation of deep fear for example, your heart shrinks. When the heart shrinks it cannot give full love. Sometimes you feel deep love for the whole universe without a reason. This can also be the presence of a higher entity within you, like an angel. These things happen in life. Colours are basically a confirmation of a shift of energy. But I always tell people to ignore it, because the colours do change quite often. So why should we hold on to some colours?

Chakras

Q: What about the colour white?

M: The chakras have the same colours as the rainbow. The colours show the state of elevation. White is the place where you originate from, where all colours come together and nullify. All colours come out of white. And all colours merge into white. Like all the souls merge into the supreme soul, and all souls come from the supreme soul. White is like a motherly light. That light is soothing, rejuvenating and nourishing. But again every meditation is different and it all depends on the constitution of the day. Many people ask me about their visions and what I think. I always answer: NOTHING!! 🙂

In this context I hear more and more about aura readings. I am not against you experimenting, but please be careful, it is your life. Prevention is better than cure. And if you are reasonably confident about yourself, you don’t need any aura or chakra readings. This is why I’m insisting on you going to the spine more and more. Because insecurities are linked to the conscious mind. You have no insecurities when you are in deep sleep and dream state. Likewise almost all these issues are related to our conscious mind and problems that we created.

Heavenly white light

Q: After yesterday’s meditation I dreamt a lot.

M: If we cut the strings of various emotions, sometimes this goes through your dreams. You will notice that in your dreams, and also when you are awake. Some people tell me that their stomach was churning, or they had a lot of hunger, or sometimes diarrhea, sometimes feeling anger and agitation. These things have to go through you, through your systems. Various things can happen, just accept it and don’t hold on to it. We are used to carrying the weight and until it is gone, we do not even realise that we were carrying something. Sometimes our ego does not allow us to get rid of the baggage. Pain is also associated with the ego. Some people like to say that they are suffering. It is so important to them.

The dream state has more room for action because it is not bound by time and space, so cleansing can happen faster. While you are sitting here you have limitations. Dare to dream!

Whatever you cannot handle pass it on to a higher level or surrender it to the God or your Guru. At work or in the office if there is something we cannot deal with, or beyond our capacity of handling, we usually consult or pass it on to our superiors, right? So let your Guru do his job. You can say: “Please take it over, I surrender this pain or experience to you.” In Shirdi Sai Baba’s case, many people asked him to take over, and it worked. Baba always said, that once you leave it and hand over, don’t look back. That means faith is very important. If you have no faith, it is as if you planted a seed and checked it every day to see if it is sprouting, then it will never grow.

Surrender and faith are important. Faith is like a big protection shield. If you surrender with faith it will work immediately. But when we just mentally say “I surrender“ it won’t work.

The more subtle you go, the more powerful you become. So if you are operating on the body level, you will just have physical power. If you are operating on your mental level, you have a different type of power. And on the intellectual level it is different again. When you are operating on the pranic level, like when we do the breathing, it is again different. But finally when you reach your soul level, you have the power of God. For example in the case of the master Lahiri Mahasaya, many times when people took a photo of him, he was not visible in the picture. So when you are operating on the soul level you become very, very subtle. Even your physical body becomes quite subtle. You will have a shape, but it is more or less transparent. On that level, you can command when the wind should stop, you can control the elements, because soul is above elements. But let’s understand, those great masters were able to heal, because they were not really worried about their body. For them the body was just a tool of expression, and they never cared, because the body has a beginning and an end anyway.

We give unnecessary importance to the body based on our identifications; and sometimes we suffer because of that. They say we should treat our body like a temple, and that means it should be pure. The god in the temple is the soul. So don’t pray too much to the body, but to the soul! And you do not need any priest or guru to bring you to your soul. Everything is given to us, we just have to see our own potential.

In the case of Jesus, He was 100% purpose bound. There was no confusion, He went ahead with His mission in a razor sharp way. He had a very clear picture that people would destroy his body some day. You know what he was attacking mostly? Inertia, tamas. Inertia is what? – Complacency, laziness, interest in negative things and overeating, jealousy, anger, greed. During the time when Jesus was around, the community was well established in inertia. Because there were comfortably placed priests who controlled people and the life pattern was set. What do priests normally do? They control people through fear of punishment. And Jesus wanted to liberate the people. He told the people: you have the potential to reach the Father. Everything is within you. Your soul is the channel.

And when Jesus was attacking inertia or tamas, the people fought back. Because who really wants to leave their bed early in the morning when it’s still dark and cold outside. Of course, I am not talking about actual sleep here, but life in general. Jesus was trying to wake people up and told them to get up and start running. Do you think people liked that? And if society doesn’t like something they find every reason to eliminate the very cause of their dislike.

When truth is spoken, it can sometimes be very frightening. We do not like truth, we don’t like to hear it, we like to postpone the inevitable. That’s our nature. So when someone tells us the stark truth, we either prevent him or we annihilate him. Socrates told the truth, and we gave him poison. Jesus was only telling the truth and we crucified him.That’s human nature. We like to kill those people and then put their picture on the wall and say they were good. I’m not criticising anything, but let’s recognise the reality.

One thing about truth is important: when you hear the truth then your whole consciousness responds. It is not the mind responding with “Oh this is interesting, it could be true.”; but your whole being will react and say, “Yes! This is correct.” This happens when truth is clearly stated.

Easter Sunday we are celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, using the occasion to have a drink. But do we use the day to connect to his consciousness? Use the day to connect to his consciousness! Jesus’ body has left us, but his consciousness has never left us, it is available. So if you are able to connect to his consciousness you will be able to heal people for example.

Jesus' body has left us but his consciousness has not

Q: How do we reach Jesus’ consciousness?

M: Through your spine. If you want to reach anybody, you first reach your own soul. And to reach your soul, to understand your own nature, you have to go beyond your mind. Find unity in all the three stages I explained to you before – awake state, dream state and deep sleep. First we reach our soul, then we reach other souls. Then we will become one with the supreme consciousness.

What is the difference between you and me soul-wise? We are children of the same father. Dalai Lama says it beautifully: “Remove my clothes, remove my skin, you and I are one.” It’s true. We are creating barriers based on our identities of this life. We only live 70-80 years. Such a short life! But we are hanging on to that. Saying I am Indian, I am German, I am British.

Another thing: The sun has been around all along, since earth began. It’s a witness, and we are not even able to connect to the sun!!! Once you start connecting with the energy of the sun, you will see the same energy and brightness existing within you. No difference. Sun uses the same energy, and the heat that you use to digest food. It’s all interconnected. How did we disconnect from all that.

Q: You said we can connect to Jesus’ consciousness through the spine, what about the heart?

M: Heart automatically reflects. When you connect to your spine and Jesus’ consciousness, love is the only experience you will have. Jesus’ main teaching was: “Love your enemy as you love your friend.” You cannot differentiate. You go through the spine and it is coming back to your heart.

Connectivity to anything higher has to happen beyond your senses, through the third eye. The third eye is linked to your spine and the expression happens through your heart. It’s all inter-linked. If you connect with the heart, heart cannot always stand the whole intensity. Expression can happen, no problem. Like the hands you can use them to do a job, but they are not running the show.

Look, 80% of your vital functions are controlled by your sub-conscious mind, like breathing, digestion, blood circulation. Just imagine if you gave the responsibility to the 20% conscious mind, one day you might forget to breathe!

But coming back to the point, how do you think those great Masters function? Do you think their sub-conscious was controlling their vital functions? When in the path of liberation, slowly everything is taken over by the conscious mind, then the conscious mind is aware of every heart beat, because you are completely centered with it. You can travel through your body with every drop of you blood, consciousness-wise. When I say shift to your spine, the moment you will not experience it as an external entity, your experience and the experiencer become one in the spine. Because you will not be separate from the experience because you will merge with the spine. Then no heartbeat happens without your knowledge. Perpetually you are in a meditative state, samadhi state. Then you can control the whole body. Dimensions of existence are amazing. But people are only concerned about what to have for breakfast!

In memory of Jesus' crucifixion

Q: The problem of addiction, it seems out of control everywhere in the world. How can we tackle it?

M: Addictions start with a thought. For example before you start drinking, you think you would like to have a beer. And before the thought comes up there is an inclination which provokes the thought. Thought is born out of that inclination. Look, I never think I should have a drink because I don’t have the inclination to drink alcohol. What comes before the inclination? Karma! So the root is karma, which you carried forward from another life, because you wanted to experience alcohol. So the seed for drinking alcohol is already in your causal layer. When the environment is right this seed will sprout. This seed is the vasana (tendency) and when there is vasana then you get the thought. You might suppress the thought but that does not mean it has disappeared. So in specific situations the thought becomes a word, and you might say “I want a beer.” Then someone gets you a beer and it becomes an action.

Addictions happen when the subconscious takes over: conscious mind engages in doing action, and then the subconscious takes over. Then it reproduces it, as a faithful servant. And then when you reproduce it over a period of time it becomes your habit and then part of your character. How do come out of it? Reverse the process! Take it out of the subconscious and bring it into your full awareness and consciousness. And when you are in with that drink or cigarette with full attention, every drink you feel 100%, and then this habit drops slowly but surely. That’s the only way. Life is simple, isn’t it!

The beauty of simplicity

Q: What about successful relationships?

M: Do not try to prune the tree. If you allow a person to be natural, the person will be reasonably peaceful. Accept the other one with their pluses and minuses, like yourself. Most people who go wild have been suppressed. In a relationship you can not bind anybody to you. Allow each other the freedom to be. You cannot control anybody. We don’t even have control over our children, if you try they will abandon you.

You see, everybody comes with a particular shopping list, which is not necessarily yours. We have to accept that. And everybody comes with enough potential to finish the shopping list in this life.

Often we are very dictatorial in our relationships. A Guru or Master can be dictatorial because sometimes you need a kick to leave your comfort zone. But a relationship is a mutual journey and especially if the purpose is clear, it is more enjoyable. But don’t take a destination like enlightenment as the purpose of your relationship that does not work. The enlightenment is something that happens to you when the ground is ready.

Of course, there are courses for “intense enlightenment” where you pay lots of money, but we cannot buy enlightenment in the shops. Sometime in the past I attended a session in Dubai, where a woman told the group: “I think I am slightly enlightened”. I really liked that, everybody was clapping their hands. How can you be slightly enlightened? You are either enlightened or you’re not. You know what Osho said: “It is Yes or No or Wow.” Even in the Kriya Yoga path – I’m sure you have read Autobiography of a Yogi – you just raise the kundalini up to the third eye level during sadhana, the rest happens automatically. You cannot decide whether you get enlightenment within a few days. It cannot be promised. So, this is the reality.